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Santander 123 account customers should consider their options after 150% increase to annual fee

11th January 2016 Print

From today (11th January), charges on the popular Santander 123 current account will more than double from £24 to £60 per year, affecting more than three million customers.

Matt Sanders, current account spokesperson at Gocompare.com is urging those affected to consider their options and avoid just looking at incentives or best buy tables when shopping around for a new current account.  

Matt said: “This is a substantial increase and as such customers who haven’t already should be seriously considering whether they’re getting enough back from the 123 current account to justify what they’re paying.

“Current accounts shouldn’t be considered as an off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all product as everyone uses their account differently. While it’s easy to get lured by incentives, such as cashback or switching offers, it’s really important for consumers to look beyond these and instead consider how they actually use their account to decide where their money will be best placed.

Matt continued: “To make finding the right current account for customers easier, Gocompare.com is the only comparison site to provide a midata current account comparison service. Midata enables people to use the data that banks or building societies hold about them to see exactly how much better off they could be by switching their current accounts.

“Customers simply download their midata file from their online banking and upload it to Gocompare.com’s secure comparison service. The midata comparison tool then analyses 12 months’ worth of their actual banking data, including all transactions made, interest earned, fees incurred and more. Then, in seconds, it provides a pounds-and-pence value to help people determine which account is the most appropriate one for them, tailored to their individual needs.”

“Just 6% of people have switched their current account in the past 12 months, which means millions of people could be missing out on an account better suited to their needs. Midata takes the guess work out of finding the right current account, that’s why people who use midata are almost five times as likely to go on to switch as those who use standard ‘best buy’ tables.

“If you’re a Santander customer, or have been with your bank for as long as you can remember, your money could be better off elsewhere. It only takes a few minutes to use midata and check that you have the right account for your needs, so be certain to get online and make sure that your money is working as hard as it can for you.”